Large corporations deploy different change and configuration management (CCM) applications to manage their software on different distributed and mainframe platforms. Users of these CCM applications typically have a need to access these different applications on different platforms in order to generate and view CCM reports regarding the current status of change and configuration management information, or change management information. This requires expertise on different platforms like Mainframe, UNIX and Windows in addition to sufficient product knowledge of different applications in order to be able to generate the reports. Accordingly, there is a need to enable users to generate, view and print the enterprise wide changes and configuration management reports from central point using a web-based application.
For example, Computer Associates International (CA) currently sells change and configuration management applications like the AllFusion Endevor Change Manager for mainframe platforms and AllFusion Harvest Change Manager for UNIX and Windows platforms. Typically change and configuration management information is stored in different databases like Oracle, Ingres and SQL Server, etc. On mainframes, the CCM information is typically stored in VSAM (Virtual Storage Access Method) files. Additionally, the AllFusion Change Manager Enterprise Workbench is a web-based portal that offers Enterprise wide change management capability by enabling access to both AllFusion Endevor Change Manager and AllFusion Harvest Change Manager from a web-based application. Each of these products includes the reporting features that allow users to view and print CCM reports pertaining to the current status of the CCM information being managed by these applications. Currently in order to generate the change management reports on these different applications, the user needs to know how to access, and/or login to these different platforms and requires sufficient product knowledge about these applications to be able to generate the CCM reports. Accordingly, there is a need to provide a method and system for presenting an enterprise change and configuration report that avoids the problems described above.